Pols 3212 Final Exam

Human right

a claim by someone, on someone, for something essential to human dignity

Hard law

binding international laws (e.g. treaties)

Customary law

achieves binding force of international law over time (e.g. UDHR, diplomatic immunity)

Soft law

norms that do not meet the procedural test of law, but influence policy making (e.g. DEVAW, Ruggie Principles)

UDHR

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

ICCPR

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

ICESCR

International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

ICERD

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination

CEDAW

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

CAT

Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

CRC

Convention on the Rights of the Child

ICMW

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families

CED

International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance

CRPD

Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Group rights

possessed by a group as a whole (don’t make sense individually) (e.g. right to culture)

Group differentiated rights

individual people within groups can exercise the rights independently of the group (e.g. trade unionists’ right to non-discrimination)

Collective individual rights

can be enjoyed by the individual, but specific provisions granted “collectively” due to history of oppression or marginalization (e.g. women’s rights) 

Genocide

intent to destroy, in whole or part, a national, ethnic, religious, or racial group 

Crimes against humanity

widespread, systematic attacks; not random (e.g. rape, murder, torture) 

War crimes

grave breaches of Geneva Conventions

Internally displaced person

persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes, in particular as a result of or/to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of HR or natural or man-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized border

Refugees

someone who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable/unwilling to avail himself of the protection of the country (crossing the border)

Economic migrant

a person who crosses a border in search of improved economic opportunity; may be leaving very dire circumstances… but NOT protected by refugee law

Torture

any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or confession, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity

Enforced disappearance

the arrest, detention, abduction, or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the state or others acting with authorization of the state, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law